An Apology to My Faithful Readers

Sorry about the lack of posts lately.

Pregnancy exhaustion has just taken hold of me and thrown me to the ground.

It's a battle I've been all too willing to lose lately.

I'm hanging on, though. I promise.

Wordless Wednesday--The Hammerheads

Cinderella had her first soccer match today.

The Hammerheads vs. the Pioneers.

I'm pretty sure the Hammerheads lost.

But it was cute watching them!

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For more pictures visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

All Things Bavarian, Except for the Italian

Tomorrow afternoon, Prince Charming and I are heading off into the sunset. Just the two of us.

We're going to Leavenworth. Just the two of us.

When I left my job right before Sleeping Beauty was born, I was gifted with a two-nights' stay at a B&B in Leavenworth. We're finally going to be able to use it. Just the two of us.

Prince Charming and I have never left the girls overnight before. Cinderella, twice, but those were leadership retreats through our church. And she was older. Sleeping Beauty has never been left behind before overnight.

Yes, I'm totally nervous about leaving her. She's my cuddle-bug. Her napping is all wacky lately. She's got some intestinal yuckies going on (sorry mom-in-law).

But the screaming (mostly in play; rarely in anger)? The bad napping? The nasty poopies? I can do without all of those for two days.

It's time for a break, just the two of us.

So, we're going to Leavenworth tomorrow. And hopefully we'll get to enjoy some good Italian food while we're there.

Mission: Impossibly Dumb

What an idiot!

Seriously?

The Buddha Belly (Button)

Being pregnant definitely does have its perks.

(And I mean besides getting a new baby and bigger boobs.)

One of my favorite pregnancy perks is my belly button. And getting to finally clean the thing out.

I have, by nature, an incredibly deep cavern of a belly button. It's so deep, that when I'm not pregnant, I can't even reach most of the creases and crevasses, even with tweezers.

(Actually, it's so deep that this is the first pregnancy where it's finally decided to pop out. I've never had my belly button pop out while pregnant before. It's kind of weirding me out.)

So, I have been taking great advantage of my swollen abdomen lately by indulging in some nice, deep cleaning of my belly button.

And it feels great!

Not the cleaning part; that part doesn't necessarily feel good. The satisfaction of having a clean belly button is what feels good.

It's the deep, dark little things in life that obviously entertain me.

Are you completely grossed out yet?

The Waiting Game

I have 66 days left.

About 10 weeks.

A little over 2 months.

I can barely bend over, or sit upright.

I feel huge, even though I'm not.

My maternity clothes are getting tight.

I'm exhausted, mentally and physically.

My girls miss my lap.

We have a name, but no clothes.

We have a nursery, but it's being used.

We have two kids already, but no experience with boys.

And the only thing we can do now is wait.

Just wait.

Wordless Wednesday--The Last Days of Summer

Sleeping Beauty enjoying the last days of summer.

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For more pictures, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday--Just Like Daddy

When Daddy gets on the laptop, he needs to be prepared for "help."
Fortunately, we have way too many old computers in our garage.
Now, Sleeping Beauty has her very own "computer."
Just like Daddy.

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For more pictures, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

Sugary Sweet (and Orangey, Too!)

I went in for my glucose test today.

First of all, it's cruel not to let a pregnant woman eat first thing in the morning. Not that I'm always hungry right away, but I do get the jitters if I don't eat within an hour of getting out of bed.

Second of all, it should be illegal not to let a pregnant woman drink anything (not even water!) for 12 hours. (Seriously, though; who doesn't drink at least something before the test? I always do.)

Thirdly, why is the testing lab never open on a Saturday? That would be convenient, you know, while our hubbies are most likely home to watch the kids. Instead, they make us drag our kids with us to the lab, where they (the kids) proceed to whine because they can't have any of the sugary drink. Then, we either have to stick around for an hour (whatever!), or drag our kids around town, praying we make it back in time to have a needle shoved in our arm (for at least the third time this pregnancy) while our children watch horrified and fascinated.

Not that this is how my morning went. Oh, no. Cinderella didn't actually whine about not getting to taste the drink (which I don't think is that bad, honestly; at least the orange one; I've never bothered to taste the others). She was more into looking longingly at my "orange soda" and wondering why she couldn't have any.

We then somehow managed to get the grocery shopping done and back to the lab in under an hour.

Fortunately, it's all over. Unless it's like last time. Last time I had to go into the hospital and do the three-hour glucose test. Talk about misery! An extra two hours without eating. And honestly, how many times can you go out and run errands in a small town? At least I didn't have a child with my that time.

Now, my stomach is happily digesting my lunch. And I need a nap.

Wordless Wednesday--My Ballerina

Ballet is over until the week after Labor Day.
No more performances.
No more hair gel.
No more itchy costumes.

I'm going to miss all of that! Spring is so far away!
At least she'll have practices every week.

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For more photos, check out 5 Minutes for Mom.

And We Have a Name (I Think)

Yea! We have a name for this child!

For now.

(And, no, I'm not going to share it with the interweb. Sorry.)

We might change the name later, but probably not.

I hope not.

It's not that I'm incredibly attached to the name, I just want this process to be over for good.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave us names or naming advice. I appreciated everything immensely!

Some of the names were on our humongous list already. Some of your suggestions made it onto our list.

In the end, though, we just narrowed it down.

The funny thing is, the name we chose wasn't even one of our favorites. We both liked it; we both kept it on our lists as they got smaller and smaller; we both chose it as our top name once the original list was narrowed down to two.

It's one we kicked around after Cinderella was conceived and before the ultrasound, but we had completely forgotten it while pregnant with Sleeping Beauty.

Funny how things eventually come around again, if you give them enough time.

I will tell you this much: it's Biblical (even though we got it from the Bible, that wasn't one of the criteria for picking a name); it's unusual but with a common nickname; and I suppose it's a little obscure, though normal.

We don't think the name is that unusual, but we've thought about it off and on for almost five years. We're used to it.

And while you don't hear it very often, there's nothing weird about it.

It's a good, solid name.

We've gotten mixed reactions from the few people we've told, but everyone agrees the nickname is more than acceptable.

I guess you can't please everyone.

Especially Cinderella. More on that later.

So Tired

Prince Charming the teacher is back at school today. No students, just teacher stuff for the next two days.

So, it's just me and the girls.
Very pregnant me and two very energetic girls.
Very pregnant me who doesn't sleep well at night and two very energetic, bouncing off the wall, wanting constant attention girls.

Sigh.

It's going to be a looooong week.

What's in a Name?

Help!

We are having the hardest time naming this child.

Cinderella was named before we were even married (and even thinking or doing anything about conceiving a child, just so we clear up any thoughts going through your pretty little heads right now).

Sleeping Beauty was named within days of us finding out she was a girl.

This one? We don't even have a short list for this one.

Why is naming this boy so difficult? The girls were easy to name.

Here is a little insight into our dilemma:


*Neither one of us is crazy about having a "Junior," so this just isn't an option.

*Too many boy names are just too popular, or weird. We're not into weird.

*With Prince Charming being a teacher, there are simply too many names that are "taboo." You know, bad associations, and whatnot.


So, where does this leave us?

With an unnamed child and a mother frantic about finding a name for him.

So far, all I have is his blog name (the Little Prince), but a blog name doesn't really translate into real life very well.

So, again, I say, "HELP!!!"

Help us name our child!

Please suggest lots of names for us to consider. I promise I won't make any snide or negative remarks about anything you suggest. We've covered a wide range in the weeks since our ultrasound.

PLEASE HELP US!!!!

Email or comment; I don't care which.

JUST SUGGEST LOTS AND LOTS OF NAMES!!!!!!

Please?

A Perfect Evening

102 degrees with really low humidity.

No clouds in a gorgeous blue sky.

No wind.

Freshly mowed grass.

A gigantic inflatable water slide.

A small, plastic toddler slide.

A kiddie pool full of cold water.

A tankini bottom that still fits despite my burgeoning belly.

Shade.

Childish laughter.

Girlish squeals.

An impromptu picnic outside on beach towels.

More water play.

An ice cream cone packed tight.

Air drying.

Air conditioning.

Dry clothes.

A squeaky, antique rocking chair.

A cuddle with my 15 month old.

A conversation with my 4 year old.

An evening with my husband.

The knowledge that there will be no rock crushing at 7:00 in the morning.

The Dictionary for Sleeping Beauty Language Learners (SBLLs)

(Prince Charming first posted this on our private, family blog. It's pretty cute, so I thought I'd share it with the rest of the interweb.)

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Sleeping Beauty (who is now 15 months old) has picked up a few words lately. For all you SBLLs out there, here is an update on what she's saying and what it means.

1. "Dat" - a utility word generally thought of as the equivalent to the English "That." Sometimes finger pointing is an added feature of this word.
2. "Dat-dat" - The imperative of "dat." Usually accompanied with finger pointing and, in dire moments, squealing and an adorable full body bob.
3. "Dan-doo" - "Thank-you." Sometimes said prior to receiving anything and in such cases it is used as a means to request an item you possess.
4. "Mmmm-Mmmm-Mmmm" - "The particular item in my mouth is quite delicious and if there is more, I'd like some."
5. "Hut" - Current observations on this newer word lead one to believe that this term is intended to ask "what?" However, what a 15 month old is doing asking "What?" is beyond the research team.
6. "Shhhh" - Said with pointer finger tilted diagonally along the lips, sometimes with finger up one nostril. "Please be quiet. This is quite important to me and your constant chatter is impairing my enjoyment of the other, more harmonious, sounds in our environment."
7. "UH-uh" - "Oh no! I've dropped/broken something," or, "Something unacceptable has occurred and needs to be remedied."
8. "Kchh" - "A non-human creature has come into my field of vision." As of late, this word is being refined to referring to cats, but has been used to point out dogs and birds as well.
9. "Da-Da" - While the father of this child would take great pride in thinking that this word is a reference to him, the latest research points to this term as a means to call to family members, mainly Mom, Dad, and/or Cinderella.